Chelsea Clinton and Christy Turlington Burns speak at GW + Phones = Hope kick-off rally, where hundreds of GW students and employees donated their used cell phones as part of the new university-wide campaign. Alumni are encouraged to bring any used mobile device to the Alumni Holiday Party on Dec. 6 at Alumni House.

Hundreds of GW students and employees donated their used cell phones on Oct. 18 as part of a new university-wide campaign, GW + Phones = Hope. Chelsea Clinton, William J. Clinton Foundation board member, and Christy Turlington Burns, model and founder of Every Mother Counts, an advocacy and mobilization campaign to increase education and support for maternal and child health, spoke at the kick-off rally.

The campaign aims to collect 20,000 used cell phones and other portable electronic devices by March. [GW hosts the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) annual meeting that month and the GW + Phones = Hope campaign is the first Commitment to Action – a concrete plan to address a major global challenge – of the fifth CGI U].

The phones will be given to a nonprofit organization called Hope Phones, which recycles used cellular devices to fund mobile health technology projects in developing countries. The proceeds from recycling the phones donated by GW will fund maternal and child health projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal, where maternal health rates are among the worst in the world and high-quality medical care is often hours, or even days, away.

Alumni are encouraged to bring any used mobile device to the Alumni Holiday Party Dec. 6 at Alumni House. There are other ways to help, even if you aren’t in D.C.:

Find as many used cell phones as you can; ask friends, neighbors and co-workers to help too. Phones that are broken as well as other portable electronic devices like ipods, ipads and digital cameras can be donated. The devices do NOT have to be in working condition; chargers or other accessories are not needed. All devices will be cleared of personal information prior to being recycled.

Drop-off your used cell phone or devices at designated campus locations. You will need to complete a brief form at the drop-off location. (If you are donating more than 10 used phones/devices, please contact donate-phones@gwu.edu to process your donation.)